


Narrow

by misura



Category: Bleach
Genre: Community: het_challenge, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-17
Updated: 2010-12-17
Packaged: 2017-10-13 17:46:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/139996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was not Ichigo's idea of quality time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Narrow

**Author's Note:**

> originally written May 2007

"It's kind of like a coffin, isn't it?" Rukia said. She sounded pleased by the comparison, as if she considered coffins very suitable places to lie down and take a nap. She'd said it just when Ichigo'd decided she'd probably fallen asleep and that he was happy with that, too.

"No, it's not," said Ichigo. Arguing with Rukia rarely resulted in anything good, but then again, _agreeing_ with Rukia rarely resulted in anything good either. You simply couldn't _win_ when Rukia was involved; it was always one damn thing or another.

"Yes, it is." Rukia went 'hmm' and Ichigo heard the sound of someone knocking on wood. He almost panicked and thought they'd been found out, then realized it was Rukia.

"Would you _stop_ doing that? What if someone hears you?" You'd think that with the two of them being in such close quarters, he'd be able to kick her easily, or at least get a hold on _some_ part of her body, but all Ichigo seemed to be able to do was kick himself a few extra bruises.

"Then they'll open the doors, and we knock them out and steal their clothes," Rukia said serenely.

"You're crazy," Ichigo said.

"Thank you."

"It wasn't meant as a compliment."

"Oh." Rukia pondered this for a moment, before she proved that unlike Ichigo, _she_ was quite capable of kicking someone where it hurt, even if she couldn't see them.

"That hurt, you bitch!" Ichigo wriggled his right arm, discovered that if he made a shoulder-wrenching effort, he could not only scratch that itchy place on his lower back but also rub his ankle. "How am I supposed to knock out _anybody_ if you've already kicked me black and blue, huh?"

"Would you stop whining already?" Rukia kicked him again.

"How about you stop kicking me?"

"Oh, fine, if you're such a wimp." Rukia sighed and started banging on the walls of their hiding place slash temporal resting place again.

"I thought you said you were going to take a nap," grumbled Ichigo.

"I thought I told you to shut up," replied Rukia. Something that was probably her foot brushed past Ichigo's ankle. Ichigo found that part of his mind thought that actually hadn't felt so bad, and that if Rukia didn't care abut making noise, they might as well do something a little more fun than lying around and sniping at each other while they were stuck here.

"Actually, you only told me to stop whining." Why was it so bloody hard to get his hands on Rukia, damn it? He could hear her loud and clear, and she obviously knew where _he_ was well enough.

"My mistake," Rukia said. Her next knock sounded especially loud and vicious, although it might just be Ichigo's imagination.

"What are you trying to do anyway?"

"Ah." Rukia stopped whatever she was doing for a moment. Ichigo could hear her breath coming a little harder than usual - that, too, might just be his imagination, because a panting Rukia was a whole lot more enjoyable to think of than exactly what might happen if someone opened the door of their hiding place at the wrong moment. "I'm looking for a weak spot."

"You are," she added after a moment's thought, "free to help me." Her tone implied she didn't think he'd be of any great use, but that, for the sake of not hurting his feelings, she was willing to pretend differently.

"No thanks."

Rukia went back to making fairly loud noises that prompted Ichigo to wonder what the hell the people on the other side of the door were doing. Maybe they were deaf or something, but naw, that'd imply he and Rukia'd actually gotten a lucky break for once, and if there was one thing Ichigo'd learned from hanging out with Rukia, it was that lucky breaks weren't.

"Suit yourself." Rukia sniffed.

"Listen, Rukia." And damn her for making him feel guilty, even when he knew he'd done exactly what she'd wanted him to do. "Don't you think they'd have done something by now if they'd heard you? Maybe they're all gone. Maybe we're doing this for nothing."

"In that case: what better way to find out than to keep on going?" Rukia's foot connected with his ankle. "Whoops."

Typical. Ichigo stewed in silence for a good ten seconds. "Would it kill you to apologize?"

"Probably not." Rukia didn't sound wholly convinced. "But I already made it clear to you that it was not, in fact, my intention to kick you, so I don't see why I should apologize as well."

"Because you kicked me and it bloody hurt!" Ichigo burst out.

"I didn't _mean_ to," snapped Rukia. "It was an accident."

"So?"

"So I don't need to apologize."

"What kind of logic is _that_?" Ichigo demanded.

"If I'd kicked you intentionally for a wrong reason, then it would be my duty as a Kuchiki to offer you my apologies," Rukia explained. "Since I kicked you by accident, apologies aren't necessary."

"That makes zero sense!" Ichigo sputtered. "That's total rubbish."

"That's what brother has taught me," Rukia said. Ichigo didn't make the mistake of not recognizing that statement as the warning it was. In spite of everything, in spite of the fact that Ichigo'd pretty much single-handedly saved Rukia's ass while her supposed brother had done nothing, Byakuya Kuchiki was the one person Rukia would not hear evil spoken of.

It was pretty clear to Ichigo that nobody'd ever bothered to explain the concept of 'family' to Rukia, and that she hadn't picked it up from observing _his_ family, either. Admittedly, Ichigo's family could be a little weird sometimes, but Ichigo rather thought _all_ families could be a little weird sometimes. That was the point, wasn't it? Your friends were the people you hung out with because you liked them and they liked you back - your family were the weirdoes you came home to and were embarrassed by. You stuck with them because they were _family_ , not because you _liked_ them.

Someone knocked on the wood next to his left ear. It was more the fact that it was a soft, almost shy kind of knock than the place that tipped Ichigo off - he wouldn't put it past Rukia to try and freak him out a little by displaying her ability to see in the dark (accident, his ass!) but it just wasn't a Rukia kind of knock. In fact, it sounded much more like a -

"Ichigo? Brother? Are you in here?"

\- a Yuzu kind of knock.

"Say 'no'!" Rukia whispered urgently.

"How dumb do you think she is?" Ichigo whispered back.

"Say 'no', or I'll make you feel sorry."

"Uhm, no?" Ichigo knew defeat when it had grabbed him by the throat, so to speak - Rukia's hand was actually considerably lower than his throat, but the general idea was the same.

There was a snap and a creak and then Ichigo was half-blind and blinking.

"How dumb do you think I am?" Yuzu snorted. "Oh, hi, Rukia."

"Good morning," said Rukia, her hands gone along with Ichigo's conviction that this might end well.

Yuzu stared at the two of them long enough for Ichigo to regain most of his sight.

"Actually, it's already evening," she said finally.

"Doesn't time seem to fly sometimes," said Rukia.

Yuzu nodded, her expression that of someone who's not entirely sure what they're agreeing with. "Isn't it uncomfortable in there?"

"Not at all." Rukia preened, as if she'd chosen the place herself. "It's a little like a coffin, don't you think?"

"I guess." Yuzu's look was dubious. "Don't coffins have padding on the inside?"

"Not where I come from," Rukia informed her, sounding proud of the fact.

Yuzu nodded another time. "Dad's looking for you," she told Ichigo.

"I know."

"Oh." Yuzu thought about that for a few moments.

"He's busy," Rukia said, reaching for the door. "You'll have to simply tell your father you couldn't find him."

Of course, that was the moment when Karen walked in. Sometimes Ichigo thought it wasn't Rukia - it was himself and his cursed luck. Rukia'd made everything worse, though.

"Ichigo's busy making out with Rukia in the closet," Yuzu informed Karen.

"Good for him," Karen said, slamming the door to the closet shut just when Ichigo'd cautiously begun to edge towards the exit.

"Should we tell Dad we found him?" Yuzu asked.

"Naw." Two pairs of footsteps headed away from the closet and somewhere nearby, a door was opened and closed again.

His family, Ichigo decided sourly and not for the first time, was insane. Rukia'd fit right in.


End file.
